"Wait, isn't shooting a medic is a war crime? Do the Geneva Conventions apply in the Nexus?" - Lt. Morales

Are you tired of watching your teammates die right before your eyes, helpless to do anything to save them? Are you frustrated thinking that there is just no "true" healer in any MOBA? Have you ever wanted to see Mercy in HOTS? Well ponder no further, because I am here to help you accomplish all your supporting and healing dreams... with Lt. Morales!

Sound fun? Lt. Morales is a devoted healer, who sacrifices all semblance of damage in order to bring a crazy amount of healing to the team. She is the most powerful single target healer in the game, and while she lacks burst healing like Uther or Auriel, she can provide a seemingly endless amount of regeneration. Many have neglected or hated on this hero, claiming that she is not only boring, but also brain-dead easy to play. I am here to dispute those claims, and since you're here, I'll assume you won't be scared off by those judgments.

Pros:

HIGHEST SINGLE TARGET HEALER
BURST PREVENTION
COUNTERS POKE
STIM DRONE BOOSTS PHYSICAL DAMAGE CARRIES
MEDIVAC PROVIDES TEAMWIDE GLOBAL PRESENCE
VERSATILE CC ABILITY

Cons:

Most focused-on hero in the entire game
No mobility/escape mechanic unless you take Medivac
No burst or AOE healing
Extremely mana reliant
No damage or wave clear

(Trait) Second Wind

Caduceus Reactor is the only trait in the game that I think is a near carbon copy of another one, Second Wind. They are very similar, except that Caduceus Reactor heals based on health percent while Second Wind scales off of a base value (not to mention the healing increases as Muradin's health decreases). Regardless, both traits share the same purpose. If you ever get low in a fight, just dip out and wait for your regen to begin before jumping back in. As Morales, you are trying your best to stay out of damage anyway, so this trait will be active most of the time. "Everyone wants to shoot the medic first! That's what the giant, life-regenerating shield is for." - Lt. Morales

(Q) Medigun

Healing Beam is the bread and butter of Morales's kit. It's basically the only reason why you pick her. Click on an ally, and as long as they stay within reach of you, they will constantly receive healing over time, while draining your mana. Keep in mind that this ability has a few properties that might not be obvious: 1. This ability can heal ANYTHING, excluding structures, objective monsters, and bosses. You can heal minions, mercenaries, and even Gazlowe/ Probius turrets. 2. After connecting your beam, there is a short period of time when the beam cannot be broken regardless of distance from the target. 3. The beam will not consume mana if channeled on a full health target. 4. The beam will stay connected as long as the target ally does not leave the radius for long. For example, if Artanis Blade Dashes out of your radius and then returns, the beam will still stay connected. 5. Stuns and silences will cancel the beam while also placing the ability on a short cooldown.

(W) 25 Armor

Safeguard is Morales's burst counter. Upon casting safeguard on an ally, they will take reduced damage from all sources for a short duration. The idea is simple, but this ability may require some practice to use effectively. You want to place it on targets that you know will be focused soon, for example, if they are close to death, or if they had just been pulled in by Stitches or Garrosh. Basically you want to use it on allies that are going to die soon.

(E) GTFO

Displacement Grenade is Morales's only form of crowd control (and damage for that matter). You throw out a slow moving grenade that can be reactivated to detonate, dealing a moderate amount of damage and knocking enemies away from the center of the blast. It also automatically detonates upon reaching max range. This ability has a plethora of uses, such as knocking back chasing enemies or blowing enemies into your team. However, these plays are made more difficult because of the weird travel speed of the grenade. It moves fastest right when you cast it, and then slows down as it reaches max range. You might be trying to knock an enemy towards you, just to end up knocking them away because your grenade couldn't outpace them.

(R1) Steroids

Stim Drone is Morales's first heroic ability, and it is designed to turn your auto attack carries into gods. The idea is simple, if you think a fight is about to break out, stim your carry. Keep in mind that this ability has a channel time that can be interrupted by CC. However, once your channeling starts, it will not cancel even if your target moves too far away. As a result, you kind of want to cast this ability early, right before your team goes in. Another thing to note is that this ability is essentially useless on mages, tanks, or any non-AA hero, so don't pick this one up if you have no AA (but honestly you should try to incorporate one into your team if you are playing Morales).

(R2) Morales Airlines

Well, if your team somehow forgot to pick an auto attacking hero, then Medivac Dropship will be your pick. It is true that this ability has a much lower pick rate, simply because Stim Drone is just too good for a team to not pick an auto attacker. However, this heroic is by far my favorite in the entire game. You can use this for almost any purpose: Rushing your team to an objective, setting up for a surprise backdoor, or even disengaging. If being used as a disengage, remember that there is a channel time that can be interrupted, as well as a 5 second delay before you are actually allowed to take off. Only disengage with this if you don't think the enemy will have enough burst to take down your Medivac in those 5 seconds. Lastly, I just want to mention that you should not use Medivac to rush to a losing fight, as it is usually safer to just mount and run there. If your team ends up being pushed back, you might accidentally Medivac right into the middle of the enemy team, and that's just a waste of your life and your heroic. If the map is too large and you feel like you have to Medivac in anyway, land very far away from the fight, to make sure you don't die upon landing.

Key:

Self Defense
Dedicated Healer
Both Defense and Pocket Build
Good Alternatives
Not so Good Alternatives

Level 1

Prolonged Safeguard A good talent in theory, but the base duration gives you plenty of time to negate the burst you need to. Any sustained damage should be countered by your healing, not Safeguard.

Trauma Trigger This is a great talent, and one of the most important tools to boost your own survivability. Not only is this talent mana efficient, but it is also automatic, meaning that you can continue to focus on keeping your teammates alive, and use your safeguard where it is needed elsewhere (although if this talent procs it typically means you're the one in danger).

Feedback Loop If you are facing a heavy burst comp, this talent will help with your mana management as you spam your Safeguards. This talent combos really well with Shield Sequencer at level 16, because both casts of Safeguard will proc this talent.

Scouting Drone This is one of the very few generic talents still out there, but that doesn't mean it's useless. Pick this talent if you really think you need it for maps like Blackheart's Bay or Tomb of the Spider Queen, as those turn in points are ones you always want vision on.

Level 4

Bioshield This is basically the staple of the pocket medic. You heal a target so much that they gain a shield, except that your target will lose all the shield that you have built up if the beam disconnects or switches to another target. Regardless, I DO NOT ENCOURAGE this kind of playstyle. Morales is supposed to be healing everyone on her team, and this kind of pocketing will only develop bad habits. That being said, if you only have a single frontline or a Cho'Gall, pocketing can sometimes prove to be even more effective than a more balanced build. Keep in mind that building up a shield DOES NOT REQUIRE MANA.

Automated Block This is basically the same thing as Block, except that it reduces less damage in exchange for more charges. For the most focused hero in the game, this talent is an essential defensive option, especially when paired with some others like Trauma Trigger.

Infused Grenade Morales isn't particularly known for spamming grenades, especially since it's very important to save it for a disengage. However, if you find yourself getting jumped on often, this talent can help you manage your resources while you keep the enemies at bay.

Level 7

Clear! Not only does this talent make it easier to hit enemies with Displacement Grenade, but it also rewards you more for landing the grenade properly. Keep in mind that the increased displacement radius could accidentally ruin skillshots for your teammates, so only use your grenade when necessary.

Irradiate Not a bad talent in theory, but it kind of loses its luster when compared to the other options in this tier. It essentially provides a Burning Rage effect on whomever you are healing (the damage is almost identical). This can be very helpful if your team SERIOUSLY lacks damage and has a few front liners who you can heal consistently. On maps like Sky Temple or Infernal Shrines, the AOE can provide some decent waveclear against the objective minions as well.

Calldown: MULE Everyone's favorite Mobile Utility Lunar Excavator is also a part of Morales's kit. One of the better of the remaining generic talents, MULE is never a bad choice (unless your team REALLY needs cleanse). Use MULE whenever your main forts or keeps have taken damage. Be wary not to waste MULE on the other less important structures (like the walls, fountains, and the other smaller towers) because you never know when another fort may be under attack. Also, don't rush to heal a fort if it is being attacked, because the enemies can just destroy your MULE before it does any meaningful healing. Remember that you can repair the core.

Cleanse One of the best ways to evaluate a support player's skill is by watching how well they can use cleanse. Now, this is not to say that you should always pick this talent, as sometimes there are simply some CC abilities that are too fast to react to or predict. Some notable heroes you basically always have to take cleanse against are The Butcher ( Lamb to the Slaughter/ Ruthless Onslaught), Chromie ( Temporal Loop), Xul ( Bone Prison), and Dehaka ( Drag/ Isolation, though you can only cleanse the silence of isolation, not the blinding effect). One hilarious thing I discovered recently is that if you cleanse an ally, Stitches and Garrosh cannot use Helping Hand or Into the Fray to save them... oops...

Level 10 (Heroics)

Stim Drone One of the most important aspects to Morales's value is this heroic. Though it might seem easy to use, the effects of a well timed Stim Drone can be devastating to the enemy. On characters like Valla, Zul'jin, Tychus, or Illidan, a stim can turn them into godlike damage sources. However, be wary before picking this heroic, because there are many heroes that can shut down your auto attackers, essentially negating all the benefits of Stim. Namely, Artanis, Li Li, Cassia, and Johanna all have powerful blinds, and you should either wait for the blinds before stimming, or just not take stim altogether.

Medivac Dropship If you have absolutely no need for stim (I don't know how this could happen if you chose Morales), then this heroic will be a great pick. The uses of this ability are incredible, and the best use in my opinion is to use it to escape. If the fight starts off with you getting bursted to near death by Illidan or Varian, you can just start channeling medivac back to your base. Your team can follow if they want, and usually it's a good choice for them, because your team wasn't going to win the fight anyway if you jumped into your Medivac. As usual, Medivac can also just be used to rush your team to an objective or whatever, just don't land too close to it in case the enemy is there to wombo combo your team.

Level 13

Intensive Care If you are having a hard time keeping your tanks alive, this talent can really help you. In fact, this is the only talent in Morales's talent tree that increases the healing of her healing beam. The increased mana cost shouldn't really be a problem, because you are healing for nearly the same amount per mana spent.

Couple's Therapy Many Morales players simply ADORE this talent, and I'm not sure why. It is your only in-combat self heal, but 25% of your healing is not as much as it sounds like, and typically you should be spending your time hiding as far away from the enemy team as you can, so your trait should provide more than enough healing to keep you alive. In addition, the increased mana cost still applies even when you are at full health, which can lead to severe mana drain. However, all this does not change the fact that this is indeed a good talent. It remains your only in-combat self heal, and that alone can justify picking it.

Preventative Care It's probably not as efficient as Intensive Care, but this talent can still save lives. If your team is facing lots of auto attackers, this talent essentially cuts incoming damage by 25% whenever your target is hit. In addition, this buff doesn't require an increase in mana cost *cough* Intensive Care *cough*.

Spell Shield I have no clue why Morales has this talent, but I'm not complaining. This is probably your best defensive skill outside of maybe Trauma Trigger. With this talent, you can negate most the burst of many cowardly assassins, like Nova and Valeera. Since you won't be taking damage most of the time (or at least that should be your goal), you can always count on spell shield having your back.

Level 16

Shield Sequencer After the removal of Inoculation, this has become the only safeguard talent on this tier, but it's not half bad. You can use it to either extend the duration of an existing safeguard (by recasting the ability on the same target before it expires) or to shield multiple people without using more mana. Additionally, Feedback Loop benefits from both casts, so you can actually get more mana back than you used to cast the ability.

System Shock If you feel like your grenade isn't doing enough to save you or your teammates, you might need this talent to seal the deal. A 50% slow is nothing to laugh at, especially since it lasts 4 SECONDS. However, if you don't think you are confident at landing your grenades, or if the enemy just has too many gap closers, Second Opinion might be the better pick.

Second Opinion This talent is great because it gives you two chances to save yourself or your team if you screw up the first time, or if you get jumped more than once. In addition, you will also have your grenades up more often to keep yourself safe, provided you can land them.

Level 20

Transfusion I feel like a change will be coming for this talent pretty soon, given that no one ever picks it... The increased duration is a bonus, but Caduceus Reactor 2.0 is just too good. I mean, let's be honest. Everyone knows how terrifying a stimmed Morales is...

Medbay Once again, I wouldn't recommend this over Caduceus Reactor 2.0, but this talent is not without its uses. The situation is pretty rare, but if your team gets out of a fight in bad shape, you can call down your Medivac for a quick team heal and transport. I just don't understand the need for a team heal if Morales can just do it herself...

Caduceus Reactor 2.0 HA! You think Morales has mana problems? NOT ANYMORE! As long as your keep your trait up, you essentially have unlimited mana! On top of that, YOU GENERATE A PERSONAL SHIELD. I have no idea why anyone wouldn't take this talent (especially considering the rest of the options at this tier...). Blizzard either has to nerf this, or buff the other level 20 options (Blizz pls do the latter).

Storm Shield This is the only option at this tier I would even consider outside of Caduceus Reactor 2.0. Morales lacks AOE damage mitigation, and this talent is essentially her only option to do so. My only problem is that you have to position yourself in the middle of your team to get the full value off this talent, and with Morales that can sometimes be a bit dangerous.

The only purpose for Morales's existence is healing. What's stopping you? That blue bar underneath your health. If you don't have mana, you cannot heal, and therefore you are useless. That being said, here are some important tips on mana conservation:

1. Don't waste Safeguard - If an ally is not in lethal danger, it is usually more efficient to heal them up than to Safeguard them.
2. Don't waste Displacement Grenade - Typically you only want to use this ability for keeping yourself and your team safe or punishing enemies who are out of position.
3. Don't heal allies fully - Healing Beam will always cost 15 mana a second, as long as it heals any amount of health. If the ally is only missing like 10 or 20 health, you will still use up 15 mana a second as if you were healing them for a full amount. As a result, it is usually most efficient to cancel your healing beam right before you top off an ally.
4. Don't waste other heals - If an ally is under the effects of a healing fountain (or any other heal over time), healing them would be a waste of that fountain. Instead, just heal them until the fountain can take care of the rest.

Lastly, if you are ever out of mana, PING IT (hold alt, then click on your mana bar) so your team understands why you left the battle at full health. Then, hearth as fast as you can, or rush to a fountain, because you are useless without mana.

Morales is a unique hero to play, simply because you want to stay as far away from the enemy team as possible, without being useless to your team. Remember that Morales has very little damage output of her own, so don't be discouraged if you feel like you're not contributing just because you spend all your time hiding behind your team.

Laning Phase

In the laning phase, Morales needs to always stay with another ally, preferably in a lane where they are outnumbered. Roam between lanes, providing "counter" ganks by keeping all your allies topped off. Remember that if you ever want to see the health of your allies, you can look at the top of the screen to quickly determine which lane needs your help the most. However, be sure to only roam if you are sure your current lane is in a safe position, because you don't want your absence to be the cause of their death.

Objectives/Teamfights

Obviously, Morales is not a split pusher, so you want to help with every objective. The most important aspect of being a combat medic (other than mana management) is positioning. Be sure that you are always far behind your team, abusing the range of Healing Beam. If you ever get jumped by an enemy, first slap a grenade in their face, and then choose between two options. You can either run away towards a friendly structure or something if you think you can shake or discourage your pursuer, or you can run into your team and hope they help you out. If you choose to run to your team, just keep in mind that it may open you up to even more danger, as you are significantly closer to the enemy team.

Late Game

Like other heroes, Morales becomes significantly more powerful as she scales into the late game. Once you get Caduceus Reactor 2.0, Morales no longer needs to worry about mana, and positioning will become your primary concern. Don't be afraid to play a bit more aggressively to keep your team alive, because all deaths become very influential at this point in the game. Use the target on your head to bait the enemy team to do really stupid things. If they dive you and kill you, make sure they don't do so without putting themselves at high risk.

Some people believe that Morales is a brain dead easy hero to play, and as such have very little respect for the character. Don't worry, because Morales definitely has a skill cap, even if she is very easy to pick up. So, what separates a good Morales from a great Morales?

Mana Management

Good: Morales will make sure to hearth and fountain when she is low on mana, or when an objective is going to come up, so that she can heal to her best.
Great: Morales will save her abilities and use them to their utmost efficiency (check my section on mana management).

Positioning

Good: Morales will stay far in the back, away from the enemy team.
Great: Morales will have optimal map awareness and be able to predict ganks and engages on her. This way, she will react accordingly and change her positioning to take the least possible damage while also helping out the team. This might mean standing at inconvenient angles for the enemy team to attack you, taking cover to break line of sight, or standing closer to the team to discourage backline engagers.

Grenades

Good: Morales will use her grenades to disrupt enemies while in teamfights.
Great: Morales will use her grenades strategically to either punish enemies by pushing them into your team or cancelling their channeled heroics, or she will use her grenades to save herself and her allies by pushing enemies out of melee range.

Cleanse

Good: Morales will pick cleanse and use it to get allies out of CC.
Great: Morales will pick cleanse, only if necessary to counter an enemy pick, and she will only use it to save allies from lethal CC.

Thank you so much for reading my Lt. Morales guide!

I know it was a lot of writing, probably a lot of unnecessary writing... but I know there are a lot of people that appreciate the detail, especially out of love of the character! Please let me know in the comments if I missed anything important, or if I had any errors and grammatical mistakes XD.

Additionally, if you have a Morales build that you find fun or effective, please let me know, and I might add your tips into the guide!

THANK YOU!!